Summary

The 1990s have seen a resurgence of interest in the Marquis de Sade, with several biographies competing to put their version of his life story before the public. But Sadean scholar Richard Seaver takes us directly to the source, translating Sade's prison correspondence. Seaver's translations retain the aristocratic hauteur of Sade's prose, which still possesses a clarity that any reader can appreciate. "When will my horrible situation cease?" he wrote to his wife shortly after his incarceration began in 1777. "When in God's name will I be let out of the tomb where I have been buried alive? There is nothing to equal the horror of my fate!" But he was never reduced to pleading for long, and not always so solicitous of his wife's feelings; a few years later, he would write, "This morning I received a fat letter from you that seemed endless. Please, I beg of you, don't go on at such length: do you believe that I have nothing better to do than to read your endless repetitions?" For those interested in learning about the man responsible for some of the most infamous philosophical fiction in history, Letters from Prison is an indispensable collection.

Author Notes

The Marquis De Sade was born in Paris, France on June 2, 1740. He fought in the French Army during the Seven Years War before being tried and sentenced to death in 1772 for a series of sexual crimes. He escaped to Italy but upon his return to France in 1777, he was recaptured and thrown into the prison at Vincennes.

De Sade spent six years at Vincennes before being transferred first to the Bastille and then to Charenton lunatic asylum in 1789. He was released from the asylum in 1790 but was arrested again in 1801. He was moved from prison to prison before returning to Charenton in 1803, where he later died on December 2, 1814.

A French novelist and playwright, he is largely known for his pathological sexual views and ethical nihilism. His works include Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, Juliette, and Aline and Valcourt or The Philosophic Novel.

Publisher's Weekly Review

The great libertine author, recently the subject of many biographical efforts, is finally allowed to speak about his life, in his own words, with the publication of this selection of letters written during the many years that Sade was incarcerated. Behind bars from 1777, when he was first imprisoned in Vincennes, to 1789, the marquis had nothing else to do but write. These letters reveal that while he was melodramatic, manipulative, self-righteous and prone to fits of rage and paranoia, he was also extremely insightful, intelligent, well read, full of ironic humor and capable of expressing great love and tenderness to his wife, Rene-Plagie. Most of the letters in this collection are to his spouse, toward whom his emotions are startlingly extreme. In an early letter he writes, "My dear friend, you are all I have left on earth: father, mother, sister, wife, friend, you are all those to me, I have no one but you: do not abandon me, I beg you, let it not be from you that I receive the final blow of misfortune." But later, he vents his frustration on her, chiding her cruelly for foolish pursuits: "If 'tis true that one must account to the Lord for one's time on earth, what embarrassment awaits you in the next world!" The only drawback to this collection is that the reader gets only Sade's side. Although Seaver's elegant introduction nearly fills the need, the full context, in the form of the many letters Sade received, is missing. Even by themselves, however, these stunning epistles show a man who suffered endlessly in prison, but who never lost his spirit, finding solace in the written word. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved